Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The assassination of Berta Cáceres was planned eight years
ago, during the 2009 coup d’état, a death sentence for all social movement
leaders fighting the destruction of the common natural goo

d and indigenous
communities of Honduras. With the coup d’etat, a mafia installed a criminal
military dictatorship that continued on and deepened the process of depriving the
Lenca and indigenous communities of Honduras of the right to make decisions
about our own territories. The installed regime, through death and with the bloody
hands of its repressive military, financed by the United States, has
implemented the most far-reaching project of displacement against Lenca
communities to date. The Lenca communities organized in COPINH and lead by
sister Berta Cáceres have denounced the approval, without any community consultation,
of 49 hydroelectric and other exploitative projects in our territories, forced upon
us through the terror and violence imposed by the coup d’etat.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

COPINH urgently communicates to the national and
international community our serious worry about the defenseless state of the
Lenca people in Río Blanco, faced with armed men and constant threats. We
insist that the authorities take immediate action to protect the physical
wellbeing and lives of COPINH members in Río Blanco, who continue to defend
their ancestral territory against the invasion of people linked to the DESA
corporation.

In recent months, and especially in the past few weeks, the
threats against COPINH members have intensified, especially while they are
working on their ancestral lands in Vega del Achiotal and Vega del Culatón,
sites where the DESA corporation has invaded Lenca territory to build the Agua
Zarca project.

The Madrid family, who is originally from santa Bárbara,
illegally took over Lenca territory and sold part of it to the DESA
corporation. Several of these people have been employees of the DESA
corporation and have been put to work threatening members of COPINH, including
our sister Berta Cáceres. We remind you that one of them threatened that they
were going to “set things straight with Berta one way or another” just a few
months before her assassination and they warned to look out for the
consequences.

We denounce that Franklin
Madrid has pointed firearms at COPINH members in Río Blanco and fired into the
air close to COPINH members while they worked their ancestral landsb. The
frequency of the threats is increasing and the COPINH members are in a state of
complete vulnerability against the armed men who are openly threatening and
intimidating them.Today, June 21st,
in the morning hours, several armed men once again threatened COPINH members
while they were working at Vega del Culaton. We alert that one of the armed men threatened to kill at any moment the
children of Francisco Javier Sánchez, Coordinator of the Indigenous Council of
Río Blanco and member of the General Coordination of COPINH.

COPINH has filed complaints with the authorities regarding
the threats and destruction of the corn crops, nonetheless, to this day those responsible continue to be free.
Instead of penalizing those who make violent threats, the police have instead
accompanied them.

We also denounce the responsibility of the Municipality of
Intibucá for having illegally granted land rights on ancestral Lenca territory
at the Vega del Achiotal, facilitating the invasion of Lenca territory.

We demand that the
authorities take immediate action to secure the life and physical wellbeing of
the Lenca people of Río Blanco and to resolve the situations denounced by
COPINH. We call on the national and international community to speak with
the Honduran authorities and embassies to demand that they Honduran state take
immediate action and prosecute those who are threatening the Lenca people with
firearms.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

The preliminary hearing for
one of the most renowned human rights cases in Latin America in recent memory –
the case of Berta Cáceres - will take place this Wednesday June 7th, in the First
District Court in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The hearing comes after two previous
continuances due to failure to provide evidence to all parties to the judicial
process and in the midst of numerous irregularities in the investigation, which
has been under the exclusive control of the Attorney General.

The purpose of this hearing is to formalize charges against four of the eight
men detained thus far: Mariano Díaz Chávez(Major in the Armed Forces), Sergio Rodríguez (Technical
and Environmental Manager for the DESA corporation), Douglas Bustillo (former Security
Chief for the DESA corporation) and Elvin Heriberto Rápalo (the supposed hitman).

The purpose of the case brought by COPINH and
the family of Berta Cáceres is to take a broader look than the case brought by
the Attorney General and thereby demonstrate that the assassination is not an
isolated incident carried out by individual interests but rather part of a
systematic attack against COPINH and its general coordinator.

This
crime is part of a plan to destabilize the organization by criminal structures along
with private corporations, state agents, international financial organizations
and hired criminals.

It is
important to recall that a year and three months after the deplorable
assassination of our sister Berta Cáceres Flores and despite heavy national and
international pressure and ongoing mobilization, the Attorney General’s investigation
is replete with deceit and irregularities, which are coming to light as a
portion of the file is opened to supplement information from previous hearings.

COPINH
calls on all national and international organizations to join us in taking
action and echoing our outcry, since this hearing is part of a process full of
irregularities that could lead to the case ending with impunity.

With
the ancestral strength of Berta, Lempira, Mota, Iselaca and Etempica we raise
our voices full of Life, Justice, Freedom, Dignity and Peace!

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News Sources / Fuentes de Noticias

Radio Progreso has radio updates (Spanish only) directly from the from the front-lines of the resistance in Honduras.

Une TV is one of the only independent national TV stations in Honduras

Rights Action has been doing good reporting and commentary as events unfold and has people on the ground monitoring the situation. They are also a reliable vehicle through which to get money to the organizations fighting for the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

Defensores en línea is the best (Spanish-only) online source for regularly updated information on the violation of human rights in Honduras.

Spanish - website of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras about the struggle of the Garifuna people and other resistance and environmental struggles.

School of the Americas Watch has good background information on the coup-plotters training at the Georgia-based School of the Americas / (also known as the School of Assasins) as well as news updates on the coup and a call to action.